The COMPLETE guide to installing HID's on your Mazda 3 (Part 1 & 2)

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The COMPLETE guide to installing HID's on your Mazda 3

Hi Guys,

Here is a very helpful tutorial. I had to wing it because I havent found a tutorial yet for the mz3, but I thought I would make one for everyone to know how to do this fantastic mod. Needless to say, my fingers hurt... i hate the retainer clip in the headlights.... but the final decision is that I LOVE HID's!!!! :cool:



Tutorial


Right off the bat, Go order the 6000k Phillips HID kit, You wont be dissapointed.


First thing is first.. let's inventory what we got:
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Very important to make sure I have the 6000k Bulbs. Yep I do! :)
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Yep, genuine phillips :)
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Alright the installation:

Right off the bat, go read the awesome tutorial on how to take out your halogen bulbs. That saved me a ton of guesswork. But let's begin....


1) Our subjected side....

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Start by removing the 3 bolts that hold the plastic cover. Then remove the dust shield and take off the retainer clip. Again.. go read this if you dont understand how this all works:
http://www.mazda3forums.com/viewtopic.php?t=4139







2) Go ahead and wire everything up before installing. Saves a LOT of time, and there is hardly any room to work with in that small hood of ours.

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3) Listen and listen carefully. The dust shield needs to be modified. I forgot to take a picture of what i am talking about, but what you need to do is cut out the middle part of it. Yes I know, cutting into your baby isnt what you want to do... but just trust me. It will make your life a LOT easier.


This is what the setup SHOULD look like when you finally put them inside of the projector housing:

***VERY IMPORTANT TIPS*****

The hardest thing to do is get the " b**** clip" to go over the plastic. You have to hold the plastic down VERY tight with one hand, and physically push that clip over the plastic until you hear an audible click. Otherwise, it wont hold and you'll hit a speedbump and there goes 600 bucks. (sad2)



Secondly, remember how i told you to modify that plastic shield? The reason is because the connectors need to go through the middle of that, so that they sit perfectly outside the shield, and the shield can go around it and slide back into place.

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4) A GOOD GROUND IS IMPORTANT! A GOOD GROUND IS IMPORTANT!! A GOOD GROUND IS IMPORTANT!! Do I need to say it again? Bury this line into your head for the rest of your life. Here is a great place for the right side ground
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5) Make sure you wire the battery connection properly. Remember: Red is power, black is ground. TIGHTEN AND RE-TIGHTEN THOSE NUTS!!! Any loose connections = NO HID's

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6) Let's see if she lights up :crosses fingers:

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7) Let's compare....


Stock piece of crap
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And God said let there be light......(boobs)

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I will take pics in the morning tommorow to show you were i mounted the ballasts, etc etc.




Now go do the other side!!!! ;)
 
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I am in the process of buying a new 3 as we speak but have found one problem... There is a slim to nill chance I can get one with the factory HID's installed. Should I take the plunge and buy it and add these later or should I wait it out for the factory lights? Is there any difference in quality between these and the factory lights? Am I stupid to go installing these HID's after only having the car for a few days/weeks? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks and sorry for all the questions.
-Svence
 
The Complete Guide on HID's part 2: Ballast Mounting / Night Pics

Alright, as you guys have read in Part 1 about how to do the procedure... let me give you guys some hard earned tips.





Tip 1:


This is my my left side looks 75% completed

Mounted it in the back, zip tied to the hole above and zip tied to the metalic freon sender in the back, as well as stickied to the wall.


Notice the electrical tape covering all the connections. Secondly notice the ground on the backside of the firewall at the back of the engine bay. Also notice that this is on the inside of the water line. DO NOT run the wires on the outside of the waterline.. as they will get wet when you wash the car. The wires HAVE to be inside that waterline.
leftground.gif







Tip 2: My right Side


Notice first off I mounted the ballast INSIDE the battery casing. I had to dremel out a little bit so the wires would not hold the battery top up..... but just a little dremeling or filing will do the trick.
rightmound.gif



Wire Tucked


The power wire for the left side is long. BEST thing to do is tuck it underneath your rear of the engine bay. Along the top of the rear are little clips holding the plastic piece underneath your windshield wipers. You can tuck the wire under there., then put a little tape just to be safe.
tuckwire.gif



Left side completed


Notice the loom covering the wires.. and they are nicely tucked away.

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right side completed

Again.. loomed and covered from any water
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AND finally......

The way the Mazda 3 Lighting should have come from the factory.....



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Hope this helps!!! :)
 
those pics make me wanna purchase a mazda 3 and throw those lights in lol!!

so good
 
I do believe the Canadian Mazda3 does not have the option for HID (Xenon) but the US Mazda 3 does as well as having the option for NAV.

That looks sweet. I have been lookiing into a HID conversion. How much was the kit? And where from?

-X-
 
Yes the bulbs are H7.


The ballasts will not overheat. There is an airvent that leads right into the battery casing from the front of the car. Now it serves 2 purposes, PLUS the lights come on at night, right? Its typically cooler at night than in the day.




I bought the lights from www.xenonfactory.com



I do not think mazda's come stock with HID's. I believe its a package deal ( xenon and TPS). I didnt want to shell out 800 bucks for something that was overpriced and unneeded from mazda.
 
ah, so that's what the vent is for

Ah... so that's what the vent is for ;). Are batteries liable to get that hot nowadays? also, the other ballast seems to be bolted to the cowl, which is where most of the wind pressure will build up and a lot of air is always flowing, so that should help cool down the metal it's bolted to.

Yea, as for getting the mazda version of the HID headlights... Xenon is a package deal along with TPMS (so you can get a little flashing strange light should your tire pressure be low)

The add-ons are $800, but in addition to just the headlights, four sensors and an idiot-light wire-up... you get a little switch next to the dash dimmer that controls the angle of the headlights (I, II and III, I for just you... II for you and friends, or you friends and cargo, and III for just you and cargo).

I think new switches that let you adjust headlight angle might be worth it... then again, I just like little switches that do stuff like that... I think they were trying to make it more cost-effective rather than forcing you to shell out $1000+ for a package that had to include vehicle position sensors that did it all automatically.
 
I dont understand what you mean by the three stages i mean i know it has it and i know 1 is low 2 is mid and 3 is high but what type of comparision are you making by saying you and your friends and you and your cargo?!?!
 
It's not for intensite of the light, it's the angle of the projector. With added weight, you car will be at a differetn distance from the ground...
 
GrEeNxEyeZz said:
I dont understand what you mean by the three stages i mean i know it has it and i know 1 is low 2 is mid and 3 is high but what type of comparision are you making by saying you and your friends and you and your cargo?!?!

I'm not entirely sure if I got the numbering right... I was recalling what I read in the manual:

the manual basically had a little chart about what position the lights should be set depending on what is in your car (in terms of cargo and passengers), I assume it was because the pitch of the car changed when you loaded it differently:

1. If you are the only one in the car, set it to high because the car is level

2. If you are in the car, but have heavy stuff in the trunk, then the rear of the car will dip, pointing the nose up (the pitch of the car will change) so you need to set the angle to low so that you don't blind oncoming traffic

3. If you are in the car, and have passengers and cargo, the weight will be a bit more evenly distributed, but the nose will still ride a bit high... so you set it to medium

Really, the switch is just a little something I thought was neat. I'm sure a significant portion of the general population who paid to get the TPMS/Xenon option package will opt not to mess with the switch, or will allways have it set to "high" because they want to see as far as they can ahead. The only reasons I can think mazda has the switch come along with the option is: A. the "cool thing" factor (which is often dangerous, because the cool things break first and they are often the most expensive to fix... VW taught me that)
B. Perhaps some sort of (US) federal mandate exists that requires an angle adjustment system with all HID lights so that general traffic wasn't constantly being blinded by bluish tint beams

also, I don't have this option, I'm happy with halogen for now ^_^. I'll see how the whole car holds up and then start adding after market parts when the warranty dies.
 
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ExtremeMz3 said:
I do not think mazda's come stock with HID's. I believe its a package deal ( xenon and TPS). I didnt want to shell out 800 bucks for something that was overpriced and unneeded from mazda.

The invoice price of the Xenon/TPMS package is $602 and MSRP is $700. The kit was $595 and you had to install it. Seems like the factory HID's are the better deal PLUS you get the manual leveling switch AND the tire pressure monitor.

Just my $.02
 
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No3forMe said:
The invoice price of the Xenon/TPMS package is $602 and MSRP is $700. The kit was $595 and you had to install it. Seems like the factory HID's are the better deal PLUS you get the manual leveling switch AND the tire pressure monitor.

Just my $.02



Install took literally 20 minutes and that was because I am anal about covering the wires, and my car was in a different tax bracket for registration / tax assessment fees because I did not pay the 700 dollars on my invoice.


Therefore my total price for my car was only 16000 and that includes an indash 6 CD changer and moonroof.. and they considered it in the same bracket as old cars / cheap eco cars.


Finally, I now stand out on the road from every other mazda 3 that has the factory headlights installed.


Yeah okay, I dont have the TPMS. But if you need a sensor to tell you " hey stupid, your tires are low", then you dont deserve to drive a car period. (headshake
 
No3forMe said:
The invoice price of the Xenon/TPMS package is $602 and MSRP is $700. The kit was $595 and you had to install it. Seems like the factory HID's are the better deal PLUS you get the manual leveling switch AND the tire pressure monitor.

Just my $.02

True, but sometimes it's hard to find OEM Xenons on a car that you want....you usually have to take other options, like auto tranny, leather, moonroof, etc, which are undesirable to some people. FWIW, I had a very hard time finding a car with the options I wanted. I was unable to find one with Xenons plus the other options I wanted, so I'll have to do aftermarket.
 
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